This Is Drivel

Month: July 2011

  • wiring

    Saturday’s afternoon project was supposed to take about an hour. Naturally, it ended up lasting about two hours longer than that. I had to move a junction box and run a length of wire across the room to a pair of electrical outlets I wanted to mount on opposite walls in the work shop. I… Read.

  • snort

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    Here’s a fun thing to do on a Friday evening after work: Stop by the Old Sugar Distillery for a snort. We have a few brew pubs in town where you can pull up a chair and ask them to draw a frosty glass of beer brewed right on the premises, but up until the… Read.

  • denim

    I was asked today why I wasn’t wearing jeans. Casual Friday at the office requires that everyone wears jeans. I don’t even own a pair of jeans, I advised the coworker who asked me what the heck I thought I was doing. That wasn’t a good enough excuse. “Get yourself down to Blain’s Farm and… Read.

  • kablammy

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    When I read a headline like “U.S. Warns Of Terrorist Bombs Implanted In Humans,” I have to stop whatever I’m doing and read the story. Because, you know, bombs. In people. Wow. Short version of the story: Bombs-in-the body is not a brand new idea, but recent intelligence indicates a fresh interest in using this… Read.

  • sound effects

    I’ve got about ninety seconds of useful consciousness before I fall into a deep, deep sleep for the next seven hours, so I want to take the time I have left and talk about the universe. Ha ha, just kidding. Let’s talk about farts instead. Better yet, let’s just make fart noises. You first. Read.

  • alpine

    You know the kind of dream that’s not scary enough to be a nightmare, but still scary enough that you don’t want to go back to sleep after because you don’t want to have any more of that dream? In last night’s dream I’d been abducted, or teleported, or somehow spirited away to a mountaintop… Read.

  • window

    I made my own, very personal July 4th fireworks yesterday when I slammed my finger in a window. I’ve never seen so many stars. We were just about to sit down to dinner last night and I wanted to open a couple windows to let the evening breeze in. One of the windows opens with… Read.

  • hijack

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    You know how sometimes a project you’ve been thinking about for weeks will suddenly percolate to the top of your mind and you’ll suddenly be seized with a compelling need to complete it? Please tell me you know exactly what I’m talking about. I need to know I wasn’t possessed by demons. I was thinking… Read.

  • shake it

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    After our weekly Saturday morning trip to the farmer’s market, we returned home to put the perishables away, then headed back out up Monona Drive and turned down Cottage Grove road to visit the antiques mall just past the highway overpass. We were in search of a cocktail shaker. There’s a good reason to explain… Read.

  • fiction

    When the Dane County Farmer’s Market is on capitol square during the summer, every street is lined with stalls where the farmers sell their wares, but every corner is crowded with folding tables where everybody with a petition or an opinion is making their pitch. This year there’s a new table on the corner at… Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend